Philadelphia 76ers center Andrew Bynum has yet to play a game this season. / Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

All during the Dwight Howard saga in the offseason â?? with the Orlando Magic's new management in place â?? the Magic were hammered for not trading Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers for Andrew Bynum, straight up, one young All-Star center for another.

The Magic still traded Howard to the Lakers, but instead of Bynum, they received players and draft picks in four-team deal. The Philadelphia 76ers ended up with Bynum.

It was a smart move for the Magic. Looking at Bynum, here's what you see:

Bynum is talented, but has rarely played a full season, his knee problems well documented.

Bynum entered 2012-13 in the final year of a $16.8 million deal and had the Magic acquired him, they would have been in the same place they were last season with Howard â?? trying to convince Bynum to stay long-term.

Also, had the Magic traded for Bynum, they would not have received young players and future picks in return and would not have been able to unload a couple of burdensome contracts, prohibiting them from achieving their goal of building with salary-cap space.

it's hard to be sold on Bynum's maturity or his ability to be the No. 1 guy.

Now, the Magic have been acquitted and their decisions justified.

This isn't about the Magic though. It's about the Sixers, Bynum and what happens next. The Sixers took a chance and now have decisions to make that will impact the franchise for years.

"At the time of the trade we had four doctors look at his MRI. We knew it was a calculated risk. We also knew we were getting the second-best center in the league, a franchise type player. We took that risk," Sixers general manager Tony DiLeo told reporters. "His knees now and the MRIs are not the same. It's a different type situation. But we are still looking at big picture and long term. We're hopeful that after this situation heals we can get him back on the court and he's got a future here."

Bynum hasn't played this season, missing every preseason and regular-season game with knee problems. The most recent setback is swelling and cartilage damage in his left knee, the result of an injury sustained bowling, while trying to rehab his right knee.

Bynum plowed right through the issue of injuring a knee while bowling and drove to the heart of the matter: "I'm taking the position that if that happens bowling, what happens dunking?"

Great question. Forget bowling. What happens when Bynum dunks, runs, jumps and puts significant pressure on those oft-injured knees?

In seven seasons, not including this one, Bynum has played one full 82-gamer -- in 2006-07 -- and a full 66-game season in a lockout shortened season in 2011-12. It's not as if he hasn't tried several procedures. He visited Germany for Orthokine treatments (using proteins from the patient's blood as medication) to Synvisc injections to lubricate and cushion knee joints.

With no definitive timetable for his return â?? after Jan. 1 for sure, if at all this season â?? the Sixers are faced with a dilemma. Do they re-sign Bynum or let him walk? Re-signing him will be costly â?? five years for almost $100 million. That's a risky investment for an injury-prone big man. But some team will sign him.

If the Sixers don't re-sign Bynum, this is what the deal will have amounted to for the team: No Bynum for a portion, if not all, of the this season, no Andre Iguodala (the All-Star was traded to the Denver Nuggets), a lost first-round pick from the 2011 draft (the Magic acquired center Nikola Vucevic from the Sixers), a lost first-round pick from the 2012 draft (the Magic also acquired Maurice Harkless from the Sixers) and a lost future first-round pick. That's a load of assets to lose for players who spends one injury-filled season with a team.

To a certain degree, the Sixers deserved credit for making a bold move. After last season, they realized the status quo wasn't sufficient in the Eastern Conference, and if they were going to challenge a team such as the Miami Heat or eliminate the Boston Celtics in the playoffs, changes were necessary.

Bynum was a step toward significant improvement.

"We hope he will back. We're anticipating he will be back at some point," DiLeo said. "We have plans for the future if he is not back with us, but we want to plan on him being here long term."

The Sixers are prepared to re-sign Bynum if they like what they see in his rehabbed knees and prepared to let him walk if they don't like what they see.

Rookie at 35, Prigioni happy to give NBA a try

At 35, New York Knicks back-up point guard Pablo Prigioni is the oldest rookie in the league. After an impressive career in Europe where he was often the best point guard, Prigioni decided to try the NBA â?? at the urging of his teammates from Argentina's national team: Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili.

Prigioni has played in 15 of the Knicks' 16 games â?? sometimes not playing (one game), receiving just seven minutes (three times) or playing 20-plus minutes (three times).

"I work hard always and try to prepare like I'm going to play 48. I know of course I won't play 48. But that's a good way to prepare," Prigioni told USA TODAY Sports. "If I think I'm going to play just five minutes, I don't know about the motivation. I'm ready all the time because you know what will happen. Maybe some player will get injured or make three fouls. I prepare myself to play every time. But I know we have great players and rotation is long, but I am ready to play."

A smart, unselfish guard, Prigioni had 11 points and eight assists in New York's 102-88 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 28 and 11 points, eight points and five assists and no turnovers in New York's 108-87 victory against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 30 and six assists in the Knicks' 110-88 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 5.

With Raymond Felton, Jason Kidd and Prigioni, the Knicks have veteran guards â?? just what New York coach Mike Woodson likes in his guards: experience.

"They're different in their own ways," Woodson told USA TODAY Sports. "Raymond is more of a point guard who can distribute and score. Jason is going to do basically what's asked of him. If he needs to score, he'll score. If he needs to be the playmaker, he'll do that. Pablo is basically a playmaker and only takes good shots that he knows that he can make.

"They bring something meaningful and positive to your ballclub. The players who play around them, love them because they know they're a pass-first, shoot-second type of player â?? all three â?? so they're making players around them much better and happy."

Tweet of the week

From Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosenberg (@Rosenberg_Mike) on New York Knicks forward Rasheed Wallace's ejection on Sunday: "I see that Rasheed Wallace got ejected 85 seconds in to a game. And people said he was past his prime."

According to Elias, that was the fastest Wallace has been ejected from an NBA game. Wallace shared the league lead in technical fouls in 2008-09 with 17 and finished tied for most technical fouls in 2009-10 with 14.